Monthly Archives: January 2019

Week 5: Wandering the Constructed World

Guild Wars 2’s idealizes the real world’s landscapes and problems to immerse us into the gaming experience. Every game does this since, without the core foundation of the real world experiences, these games would not be possible. These similarities can be seen through the game with the integration of fantastical aspects that build on top of the existing base. When playing as the human race, we are introduced with immediate problems that deal with the threat of the village. Conflicts exist everywhere and it’s the same concept within the video game where centaur invasion is a threat to the town. My character is encouraged to assist in fighting off the centaurs and protecting the NPC to get them to safety like what real heroes should do. These ideas of heroes fending off evil is present and the main premise within most video games such as this one. Visuals of different characters in the games are well distinguishable due to the environment and the marker that they are given. Hostile enemies have red bars whereas friendly allies have green bars above their characters. These are not the only factors that help to determine their hostility and friendly. The context of the situation can drastically help us recognize the difference between the two such as their behaviors and the way they act. We are capable of differentiating the morals of the story which can aid us in the journey. When it comes to supporting the NPCs within utopian and dystopian landscapes I was able to help the inhabitants since I actually had the abilities to do so. As I leveled up, I gained new abilities and equipment which made me stronger when it came to fighting new monsters. Because of that, I was not hesitant to help out anyone who was in need.  Ideas of order and control in an environment could be distinguished easily since it projected our society in some ways. We fight for our core values and depending on the values that individual societies hold, people within those societies are going to have different morals. We are taught to help out those in need, to be better than the bully and etc. Identifying the order and control within the environment was straight forward. The world is unchanging unless you go to another area where monsters are stronger and differences in appearance. As you travel further into the game, you move to different parts of the map. Even though the maps themselves do not change, there are parts of the map that depicts different vibes every time. Same thing happens to monsters, as some areas contain low level enemies where as certain area’s enemies are more difficult to hunt down. This greatly shows how linear progression can be without complicating the game. The gameworld contains many cultural moment which is surprising. Different enemies resemble mythological creatures we see in the real world such as giant worms, elementals, and stories of war and care of human nature. There are different races which make things more interesting. We see minimal conflict with humans themselves, but there seem to be conflicts within different races which can translate to how we face everyday with racism. Due to these findings, the game contains similar issues that we face in real life but in a metaphorical aspect of our lives which can be an interesting way to view the world.

Week 3: Creating Your Character

Guild Wars 2 has an exciting way to attract players to have them immersed in the game as much as possible by adding multiple character classes and stories set for individual one. There were many choices when it came to creating a character, from different class, race, to customization, you could make a unique character that was different from everyone else. These choices were important to me because it either gave me the idea of creating a version of myself or a different version of me. When selecting human characters, not having the option of choosing red eye colour or blue skin made sense since humans can’t naturally have those characteristics. However, it would be a different story if I chose some other race within the game. The avatar somewhat represented my ideal self. The game cannot have variables for how my personality is exactly, but I tried to aim for what I would be if I was a character inside the video game. Choosing a name for this character was very difficult but I wanted to express myself as much as possible in game since I am goofy, weird, and genuine but very serious when I have to be. Therefore, setting the name as “Medium Rare Chungus” was a best fit for me. It does not make sense for a lot of people and they might question how it came to that idea, but it was something that represented a meme within myself. I chose the Thief class since they have the ability to go stealth and access to places that we were not meant to access, as well as increasing 1 on 1 combat. The avatar has this hood called Subterfuge Hood that only Thief class can wear like in the Assassin’s Creed games and it was described as “A mask draws attention, and an uncovered face allows people to identify you. I prefer a more subtle subterfuge. A drawn hood lets me blend into the crowd, and no one knows I was there.”. This allowed me to feel like a lone wolf and stick to the identity of a thief.

I have not made more than one character, but with the experience of making one was very unique. Other than the customization itself, the game was progressively letting me choose which path I took for the character’s backstory. These choices availability gives realistic customization of the characters that we are playing as we immerse ourselves in the experience and be the hero of the game. These game design helps us to find different meaning within the game, allowing us to reach a different goal rather than the ones we already possess in the real world, to be someone who we are not and that is the unique experience that video games can offer